# Time to start smoking a hooka



## Under A Mountain (May 24, 2007)

If you are in Vancouver. Link

From the article:
_One disgruntled speaker, Angela Giannoulis, suggested sarcastically that she hoped the new bylaw would mean she wouldn't have to put up with crack and crystal-meth smokers outside her family's cigar-distribution business in Strathcona, while it forces her employees to go to dangerous alleys to smoke cigarettes and threatens to shut the cigar rooms for her customers._


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## tzaddi (Feb 24, 2007)

Under A Mountain said:


> If you are in Vancouver. Link
> 
> From the article:
> _One disgruntled speaker, Angela Giannoulis, suggested sarcastically that she hoped the new bylaw would mean she wouldn't have to put up with crack and crystal-meth smokers outside her family's cigar-distribution business in Strathcona, while it forces her employees to go to dangerous alleys to smoke cigarettes and threatens to shut the cigar rooms for her customers._


I think it is a breakthrough precedent to recognize that a particular type of tobacco smoking is an important part of a certain culture.



> But he said hookah lounges are essential for immigrants from hookah-smoking cultures, because it helps them deal with the depression common for newcomers and gives them places like they have at home.


In all seriousness, this same principle can resonably be applied to pipe & cigar smoking and the social interaction that revolves around it in public places. Cigar & Pipe smoking has a long and rich history on this continent as well as other parts of the world.

I will be watching this develop and am indebted to my Muslim BOTLs for opening the door that will hopefully lead to recognizing our culture that embraces the Leaf as well.

-Richard


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